[So out of curiousity, what is an awesome Kaws piece and what is an awful one? Maybe some photos of both?

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Personally, I like the original Companion, the 5 Years Later Companion (and many of the various poses), the Dissected Companion, and the Chum. I got into KAWS through his bus stop paintings, and being into clean lines these nail it for me. Simple, strong, clean.

I hated things like the Blitz, Cat Ball, Wonderwall. Whereas the others were previously developed in his paintings/prints, these seemed like low-effort easy money without any history or pedigree to them.

After that he seemed to deep-dive into cross-over characters (Peanuts, Star Wars, Tweety Bird, Pinocchio) which further reeked of low-effort cash-grabs. I do think the Pinocchio figure looks pretty nice, but otherwise all of those sculpts are garbage. There are two cross-over that I actually really like: the JPP (Pipo Kun) and Astro Boy - I'd love to get these, but that ship has sailed. Also, AB figured into his pre-toy artwork.

There were also a handful of artist collaborations which range from okay to awesome - Lazzarini are pretty fun distortions of the original Companion. The Pushead is a classic. I want to like the Sorayama because I like both artists, but I just don't really care for it. Reas was...eh.

And there's another distinct subsection of KAWS toys where the original toy seems to be the focus, with KAWS providing a little twist. Things like the dog he did with Neighborhood, the BxH Skullkuns, the ChoroQ racers. I don't care for these (except the BxH have kinda grown on me) but don't think they're garbage.

And of course there are the Bearbricks. I love 1000% - Chompers (the blue one) is the best! And the wood 400% are beautiful for their iconic simplicity. Aside from those, not a fan of the 'bricks but don't hate 'em either.

Too many discussed (and I didn't even mention the plushies...because they're crap!) to pull pics for everything but I'll leave you with this:

Woah woah woah.. watch your mouth. Ron English is the man!
But in all seriousness - he's definitely milking the grins. I have most of his original grins, including one of those 4ft telegrinnies as they were pretty much the first of their kind, but I haven't blinked at any of the releases that he's done over the last 4 or 5 years. Especially with every Joe and Jill mixing skulls and iconic cartoons together. So much unoriginal SHIT out and about atm.

[So out of curiousity, what is an awesome Kaws piece and what is an awful one? Maybe some photos of both?

Click to expand...

Personally, I like the original Companion, the 5 Years Later Companion (and many of the various poses), the Dissected Companion, and the Chum. I got into KAWS through his bus stop paintings, and being into clean lines these nail it for me. Simple, strong, clean.

I hated things like the Blitz, Cat Ball, Wonderwall. Whereas the others were previously developed in his paintings/prints, these seemed like low-effort easy money without any history or pedigree to them.

After that he seemed to deep-dive into cross-over characters (Peanuts, Star Wars, Tweety Bird, Pinocchio) which further reeked of low-effort cash-grabs. I do think the Pinocchio figure looks pretty nice, but otherwise all of those sculpts are garbage. There are two cross-over that I actually really like: the JPP (Pipo Kun) and Astro Boy - I'd love to get these, but that ship has sailed. Also, AB figured into his pre-toy artwork.

There were also a handful of artist collaborations which range from okay to awesome - Lazzarini are pretty fun distortions of the original Companion. The Pushead is a classic. I want to like the Sorayama because I like both artists, but I just don't really care for it. Reas was...eh.

And there's another distinct subsection of KAWS toys where the original toy seems to be the focus, with KAWS providing a little twist. Things like the dog he did with Neighborhood, the BxH Skullkuns, the ChoroQ racers. I don't care for these (except the BxH have kinda grown on me) but don't think they're garbage.

And of course there are the Bearbricks. I love 1000% - Chompers (the blue one) is the best! And the wood 400% are beautiful for their iconic simplicity. Aside from those, not a fan of the 'bricks but don't hate 'em either.

Too many discussed (and I didn't even mention the plushies...because they're crap!) to pull pics for everything but I'll leave you with this:

Good

Bad

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I don't like KAWS at all, but I at least get this. One of those is a toy that bores me to death, the other one looks like a way to tap the wallets of idiots. I bet those were $150 a pop when they should be $25

I don't like KAWS at all, but I at least get this. One of those is a toy that bores me to death, the other one looks like a way to tap the wallets of idiots. I bet those were $150 a pop when they should be $25

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I definitely understand why some people don't like KAWS and find him boring - diff'rent strokes and all. It's really no different than any niche though - most people would scoff at the stuff collected by SB members (including many SB members!), and then choke on their spit when they hear how much it costs. I wouldn't spend $25 on those Cat Balls - and I wouldn't spend $25 on anything outside of fewer than 10 sofubi makers.

Woah woah woah.. watch your mouth. Ron English is the man!
But in all seriousness - he's definitely milking the grins. I have most of his original grins, including one of those 4ft telegrinnies as they were pretty much the first of their kind, but I haven't blinked at any of the releases that he's done over the last 4 or 5 years. Especially with every Joe and Jill mixing skulls and iconic cartoons together. So much unoriginal SHIT out and about atm.

True @bryce_r - although there are a ton of 'cute' style vinyl figures coming out of Asia at the moment which while they may not exactly be fugly, they definitely are boring as watching paint dry... which with half of them being painted with acrylic paint over vinyl, is exactly what you will be doing!

If you scroll through this thread fast enough it's just like travelling back to the K.R. boards!

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I'm not sure I can agree here. In fact, I'm positive I cannot. Whether or not you like KAWS or Ron English (the only ones pictured in this thread so far, aside from an adorable Goji...oh, and some crap Simpsons thing), there is a massive difference between them and Tristan Eaton (?) or Huck Gee or whoever else is considered a KR-artist.
KAWS and English are - whether you like it or not - legitimate artists that are era-defining. What the definition of that era is, and its worth, is open for interpretation. I do not like Andy Warhol at all, but I will not deny his place in the pantheon of artists. Ditto a great many "masters" of previous eras. Ron is a great painter. I think his toys suck, but I can't deny his ability as a painter or the message of his paintings. KAWS is an internationally recognized artist by well-respected institutions and collectors alike. You may view them as hacks (and to be fair, they may both be mired in quagmires of their successes), but your opinion does not outweigh the opinion of the international art community. If you think the toys collected by the general SB population have any sort of artistic moral superiority over KAWS/English you are full of it.

Anyway, my point wasn't about that - it was just that scrolling through this thread brought back memories of looking through the KR boards. In actual fact Kaws and Ron English sit next to Tristan Eaton, Huck Gee, Joe Ledbetter, Jeff Soto, Jeremy Fish, Dalek and everybody else quite nicely and they always have.

Similar to the skeleton grin...Jason Freeny’s half skeleton toys. Nothing against the guy, it’s good that he’s making money off his art, but I’d rather see some other ideas from him. And most are a little more anatomically correct than say, secret base’s spongebob

International recognition and fame mean little when discussing the quality of art. By that argument, every crappy pop musician is producing art of the highest caliber. And if you want to say Jiston Bieber is a more talented artist than, say, Sigur Ros, Foetus, or Phillip Glass, then this is where I bow out of the conversation.

Also, what is the message? Add X to eyes or a skull and make them fat. I'd venture to say that most "art" consumed on the lowbrow level is meaningless. It is product meant to make money.

Hmmmm! If we’re talking about ‘boring’, then having hundreds of the same toy in slightly different colours might rank pretty highly . . . but I still dig Secret Base, RxH and a bunch of others that have the same M.O.

International recognition and fame mean little when discussing the quality of art. By that argument, every crappy pop musician is producing art of the highest caliber. And if you want to say Jiston Bieber is a more talented artist than, say, Sigur Ros, Foetus, or Phillip Glass, then this is where I bow out of the conversation.

Also, what is the message? Add X to eyes or a skull and make them fat. I'd venture to say that most "art" consumed on the lowbrow level is meaningless. It is product meant to make money.

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I totally agree...even if Kaws and Ron English had some "lofty' artistic ideal to begin with it has been totally obliterated in the pursuit of cash. Which doesn't bother me personally, but I have no interest in the toys. Both artists are talented and noteworthy when it comes to painting IMHO.

Art doesn't need to have meaning to be relevant or enjoyable. It's quite the opposite really. It's such a shallow and annoying argument that people engage in. Kaiju characters are as meaningless as anything, and yet they bring us great joy. There is no "meaning of life"....art and toys are the same. Enjoy what pleases you. If toys, art, whatever you collect give you some small degree of happiness, that is more than enough.